... and sometimes there are things to blog about ...
Well, after 4 years having only two bike accidents is pretty good. (knock on cherrywood) First, I'm okay, thanks for asking. The accident wasn't as serious for me as it was for the bike, poor guy. If my Mom hadn't bought me a bike helmet I know I would have been worse off.
... okay, $100 sounds fair ...
So, here's the short version. I'm riding around Umeda, the main part of Northern Osaka, and there's way too many people (as usual) so I decide to take a side street, then take another short cut, then switch on to the taxi turnaround. I'm trucking along, and I round this corner, and there's an Executive Taxi in my path. Now I DO manage to stop, though I couldn't get them to understand that later, but it doesn't matter. But the taxi driver isn't as good as I am at these sudden situations, so he crunches into my bike HARD! I go into, what I've termed "spidey mode" where I spawl out, and try to keep some semblance of balance while the front bike tire twists underneath the front of the car. My first thought is, "oops, you dumb shfit you were being all cool, and it bit you in the assphalt as usual." But the second thought was, "if you give this freakin taxi driver even a hint that you think it was your fault, he's going to walk all over you, and anyway, he wasn't even paying attention, stupid idiot." So I began to swear. The kind of swearing that I've learned from the Aussies and Kiwis that I've met over the years. Of course in the back of my mind I'm a little sad that I have to be mean to this taxi driver. But then I remember that he's an Osaka Taxi Driver, the lowest filth in the transportation industry. And this guy is an Executive Osaka Taxi Driver, which means that he's complete bottom feeder material. And as soon as he steps out of the car, I can tell, he's going to try to make it my fault. But the adrenaline has already been routed to the correct part of the brain, so I'm good. So, I point at the bike, speak in nasty fast English, and tell him whatfor about how he could have stopped if he had been paying attention. Which IS true, the guy wasn't even paying attention to where he was going, just zipping along his fancy taxi and all.
... "can you call the police? you know, police? BANG BANG" ...
I love that moment. So, he goes running off thinking that he's going to get extra time to tell the police what an idiot I am. And I know that the police don't like taxi drivers. I figure this guy must have forgotten, or he thought that I was some green foreighner who would crumple under the polices gaze. But what he doesn't know is that I'm a veteran of dealing with Japanese authority figures, and public servants. So I let him run off to do his thing, and have a smoke. Meanwhile, I call the "education planning section" of my company for some translation advice. I explain the situation by the time the cops finally arrive. Two of them come, one, a well kept young woman, wearing a flak-jacket, and the other a clean-cut beat cop who doesn't eat too many doughnuts, and probably keeps his weight down playing with his two cute kids. I'm the winner. Anyway, after that it's just waiting for the right moment to suggest a price. I know that the taxi driver will try to get out of trouble, so I talk about damage costs, and he suggests that he can pay me right now, and I say that I can go to the bike shop (less than 5 minutes walk away, great service) and get it fixed there no problem.
I've got nothing broken, and refuse an ambulance, show them my tiny little scratch. And they buy it, hook, line $100.... what a great way to begin the ending ...
So I go to the bike shop, drop off the bike, head over to the Outback for dinner, have a Chicken Ceasar Salad and a Coke, go back, pay $50 for the new wheel (a beautiful new Shimano wheel, I might say), and head home. Yep, today was a great day! Oh, and I got some great pictures of Osaka Castle to boot. Yep, great! I love Japan.
... I'm gunna miss this place ...
2 comments:
you'll miss it, yes, but the key is to keep moving and experiencing new places and moments to photograph, no? so much more awaits you!
Well, actually, It's kind of an embarassment to say I don't. Problem is, you ACTUALLY have to study it.
I tell my students that to learn English, all you have to do is listen, and speak. But to learn Japanese, you have to be able to identify pictures. In other words, English is almost a pure auditory language (i.e. huukt ohn fonikz), but Japanese is a visual one. Once you can speak each of the "kana" you can say any word, there's no variety, no, i before e. But, if you don't know what the object (kanji) that you're looking at means, then you're screwed.
Hope that helps.
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